IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i4p1357-d319877.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Trivariate Causality among Education, Health, and Economic Growth in Zimbabwe

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Takudzwa Pasara

    (Economic and Management Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Butterworth 4960, South Africa)

  • Tapiwa Kelvin Mutambirwa

    (UNICEF Malawi, P.O. Box 30375, Lilongwe, Malawi)

  • Nolutho Diko

    (Faculty of Education, Walter Sisulu University, Butterworth 4960, South Africa)

Abstract

This study investigated the causality among education, health, and economic growth in Zimbabwe. Causality effects are a thinly explored area in literature, with most studies focusing on bidirectional relationships. Granger causality tests were employed in a Vector autoregressive (VAR) model. Results showed that education Granger causes health improvements, with health improvements in turn fairly associating to Granger cause economic growth in Zimbabwe. Thus, the effect of education on economic growth is not direct, but works through improved health, pointing to the conclusion that health is a transmission mechanism through which education drives economic growth. No feedback effect was established from health to education and from economic growth to education and health. Thus, results suggest the need for a holistic policy approach which integrates education and health policies in a bid to drive economic growth, since education has no effect on economic growth in its own domain, but through health.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Takudzwa Pasara & Tapiwa Kelvin Mutambirwa & Nolutho Diko, 2020. "The Trivariate Causality among Education, Health, and Economic Growth in Zimbabwe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1357-:d:319877
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1357/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/4/1357/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Romer, Paul M, 1986. "Increasing Returns and Long-run Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(5), pages 1002-1037, October.
    2. Aka, Bédia F. & Dumont, J.C., 2008. "HEALTH, EDUCATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: TESTING FOR LONG-RUN RELATIONSHIPS AND CAUSAL LINKS in the United States," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 8(2), pages 101-110.
    3. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:15:y:2006:i:15:p:1-6 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Ana Poças & Elias Soukiazis, 2013. "Explaining the interrelations between health, education and standards of living in Portugal. A simultaneous equation approach," International Journal of Public Policy, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 9(3), pages 167-187.
    5. Bloom, David E. & Canning, David & Kotschy, Rainer & Prettner, Klaus & Schünemann, Johannes, 2024. "Health and economic growth: Reconciling the micro and macro evidence," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    6. Hüseyin Sen & Ayse Kaya & Baris Alpaslan, 2015. "Education, Health, and Economic Growth Nexus: A Bootstrap Panel Granger Causality Analysis for Developing Countries," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1502, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    7. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    8. Tom S. Vogl, 2012. "Education and Health in Developing Economies," Working Papers 1453, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    9. Eide, Eric R. & Showalter, Mark H., 2011. "Estimating the relation between health and education: What do we know and what do we need to know?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 778-791, October.
    10. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    11. Blanchard, Olivier Jean, 1989. "A Traditional Interpretation of Macroeconomic Fluctuations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(5), pages 1146-1164, December.
    12. repec:pri:rpdevs:vogl_ed_health_review is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Alper Aslan & Angeliki Menegaki & Can Tugcu, 2016. "Health and economic growth in high-income countries revisited: evidence from an augmented production function for the period 1980–2009," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 937-953, March.
    14. Jude Eggoh & Hilaire Houeninvo & Gilles-Armand Sossou, 2015. "Education, Health And Economic Growth In African Countries," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 40(1), pages 93-111, March.
    15. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    16. Ogundari, Kolawole & Awokuse, Titus, 2018. "Human capital contribution to economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does health status matter more than education?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 131-140.
    17. Granger, Clive W J, 1986. "Developments in the Study of Cointegrated Economic Variables," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 48(3), pages 213-228, August.
    18. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
    19. World Bank, 2015. "World Development Indicators 2015," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 21634.
    20. Tin-Chun Lin, 2006. "Alternative measure for education variable in an empirical economic growth model: Is primary education less important?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 15(15), pages 1-6.
    21. Selma J. Mushkin, 1962. "Health as an Investment," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 129-157, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. David E. Bloom & David Canning, 2008. "Population Health and Economic Growth," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28036.
    23. Selma J. Mushkin, 1962. "Health as an Investment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70(5), pages 129-129.
    24. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olatunji A. Shobande & Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "Has Knowledge Improved Economic Growth? Evidence from Nigeria and South Africa," Working Papers 21/059, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    2. Nyoni, Thabani, 2021. "Modeling and forecasting international tourism demand in Zimbabwe: a bright future for Zimbabwe's tourism industry," MPRA Paper 110901, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 01 Dec 2021.
    3. Michael Takudzwa Pasara & Steven Henry Dunga, 2022. "Value Chains And Climate Change Mitigation Strategies: A Case Of Nutritional Gardens In Zimbabwe," Eurasian Journal of Business and Management, Eurasian Publications, vol. 10(1), pages 62-75.
    4. Ohikhuare Obaika & Oyewole Oluwatomisin & Adedeji Adedayo, 2022. "Public Health Investment, Human Capital Accumulation, and Labour Productivity: Evidence from West Africa," Zagreb International Review of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 25(2), pages 139-163.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sultana, Tanzila & Dey, Sima Rani & Tareque, Mohammad, 2022. "Exploring the linkage between human capital and economic growth: A look at 141 developing and developed countries," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(3).
    2. P. P. Shafuda, Christopher & De, Utpal Kumar, 2017. "Upshot of Public Health Expenditure on Economic Development," MPRA Paper 101846, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 03 Jan 2018.
    3. Aysit Tansel & Ceyhan Ozturk & Erkan Erdil, 2021. "The Impact of Body Mass Index on Growth, Schooling, Productivity, and Savings: A Cross-Country Study," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2118, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    4. Ethem Esen & Merve Çelik Keçili, 2022. "Economic Growth and Health Expenditure Analysis for Turkey: Evidence from Time Series," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(3), pages 1786-1800, September.
    5. Hartwig, Jochen, 2012. "Testing the growth effects of structural change," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 11-24.
    6. Bernard Sarpong & Edward Nketiah-Amponsah & Nkechi S. Owoo, 2020. "Health and Economic Growth Nexus: Evidence from Selected Sub-Saharan African (SSA) Countries," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(2), pages 328-347, April.
    7. Zakir Husain & Mousumi Dutta & Nidhi Chowdhary, 2014. "Is Health Wealth? Results of a Panel Data Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(1), pages 121-143, May.
    8. Roseline Karambakuwa & Ronney Ncwadi & Andrew Phiri, 2019. "The human capital-economic growth nexus in SSA countries: What can strengthen the relationship?," Working Papers 1905, Department of Economics, Nelson Mandela University, revised Jul 2019.
    9. Sinan Erdogan & Eyup Serdar Erdogan, 2023. "Analyzing the asymmetric effect of disaggregated health expenditures on economic growth," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 2673-2686, June.
    10. Maria Klonowska-Matynia & Radosław Sobko, 2021. "Spatial Analysis of the Relationship between Health Capital and the Level of Health Care Expenditure in Poland," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 1), pages 133-151.
    11. Suleman Sarwar & Dalia Streimikiene & Rida Waheed & Zouheir Mighri, 2021. "Revisiting the empirical relationship among the main targets of sustainable development: Growth, education, health and carbon emissions," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 419-440, March.
    12. Ogundari, Kolawole & Awokuse, Titus, 2018. "Human capital contribution to economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does health status matter more than education?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 131-140.
    13. Roseline Tapuwa Karambakuwa & Ronney Ncwadi & Andrew Phiri, 2020. "The human capital–economic growth nexus in SSA countries: what can strengthen the relationship?," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 47(9), pages 1143-1159, July.
    14. Hartwig, Jochen, 2010. "Is health capital formation good for long-term economic growth? - Panel Granger-causality evidence for OECD countries," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 314-325, March.
    15. Panagiotis Pegkas & Constantinos Tsamadias, 2017. "Are There Separate Effects of Male and Female Higher Education on Economic Growth? Evidence from Greece," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 8(1), pages 279-293, March.
    16. I. Hakan Yetkiner, 2006. "Saglik ile Buyume," Ege Academic Review, Ege University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, vol. 6(2), pages 83-91.
    17. Ayhan KULOĞLU & Eyyup ECEVİT, 2017. "The Relationship Between Health Development Index And Financial Development Index: Evidence From High Income Countries," Journal of Research in Economics, Politics & Finance, Ersan ERSOY, vol. 2(2), pages 83-95.
    18. Elvis Dze Achuo & Tii N. Nchofoung & Simplice A. Asongu & Gildas Dohba Dinga, 2021. "Unravelling the Mysteries of Underdevelopment in Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 21/073, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    19. Themba G Chirwa & NM Odhiambo, 2019. "An Empirical Test Of Exogenous Growth Models: Evidence From Three Southern African Countries," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 64(220), pages 7-38, January –.
    20. Suri, Tavneet & Boozer, Michael A. & Ranis, Gustav & Stewart, Frances, 2011. "Paths to Success: The Relationship Between Human Development and Economic Growth," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 506-522, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:1357-:d:319877. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.